Combustion apparatus



May 19, 1970 B. WITHORN I 3,512,488

' COMBUSTION APPARATUS Filed July 22, 1969 TO WATER A SUPPLY {I l I HHIw" 1 l BOILER .IZ

INVENTOR BENJAMIN WITHORN nited States Patent Office 3,512,488 PatentedMay 19, 1970 US. Cl. 110-'119 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thepatent specification and drawings disclose an arrangement of parts whichcan easily be installed in an existing Smokestack or stack flue and isadapted to sprinkle either a steam or a fine mist of water against theuprising flue gases so as to mingle with the same and to cause the sootparticles to become heavier by the addition thereto of the steam orwater mist thus causing rapid precipitation of the same, within thestack thereby preventing their escape into the surrounding atmosphere.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application forpatent Ser. No. 652,293, filed July 10, 1967, now Pat. No. 3,456,606.

Also, the addition of steam to the uprising combustion gases changes thecolor of the uprising gases from one which is usually darkish in colorto one which assumes a white or a grayish white color.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to anarrangement of parts which may effectively be employed in the elimination of undesirable smoke and soot particles rising upwardly from thesmokestacks of establishments such as incinerators, office buildings,apartment houses, etc., where for reason of economy a low grade fuel isemployed in the furnaces commonly installed in such establishments.

It is a well known fact that when the furnaces in establishments of theaforementioned type are fired, a dense black smoke issues from the fluestacks and this black smoke is most objectionable inasmuch as itconsists of innumerable minute particles of soot which will ultimatelysettle on the ground or surrounding buildings in the area. Also, suchsmoke is objectionable from a health standpoint as it will pollute theair in the area surrounding the buildings employing such low grade fuelburning furaces.

Since air pollution has recently entered into a major problem and due tothe large number of establishments employing low grade fuels in theirfurnaces, the structure of the present invention will eliminate the airpollution caused by these establishments and the structure of thepresent invention is one which may easily be installed in existing fluestacks with relative ease and without necessitating major changes in theflue stacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides for an efficientand compact arrangement of parts which may be easily installed inpro-existing flue stacks or installed in stacks as they are beingerected which will direct a fine mist of water or steam downwardlyagainst uprising flue gases so as to precipitate the soot particlestherein and to simultaneously wash the uprising smoke and to change thecolor thereof from a darkish color to one which is substantially white,thus eliminating the pollution of the air in the area surrounding theestablishments employing low grade fuel burning furnaces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of thepreferred form of the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on lines 22 of FIG. 1, looking in thedirection of the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings,there is shown at FIG. 1 thereof a combustion chamber 10 of conventionalconstruction and made of a suitable refractory material. Secured to thecombustion chamber 10 in any suitable manner is a Smokestack 11 whichextends upwardly therefrom and leads to the atmosphere.

Mounted interiorly of the Smokestack are sprinkler heads 12 which aredirectly downwardly of the srnokestack and are adapted to project asteam spray or a fine mist of Water against the uprising flue gases. Thesprinkler heads 12 are secured in any manner to the Smokestack 11 andare supported therein by means of a conduit 13 which extends through onewall of the smokestack ll in the manner clearly set forth in FIG. 1 ofthe drawings. Conduit 13 extends to a source of water supply (notshown). The Water supply may be any source of tap water which isavailable in the immediate vicinity of the furnace structure embodyingthe present invention.

Located in conduit 13 is a solenoid valve 14 of conventionalconstruction. The solenoid valve 14 is adapted to be responsive to anelectric switch 15 which is mounted in close proximity to a firingassembly 16. Mounted interiorly of the combustion chamber is aconventional boiler 17, again of conventional construction. The electricswitch 15 is made responsive to a thermostat (not shown) or other heatsensing equipment and is designed, when actuated, to provide thenecessary electrical forces to operate the conventional fuel pump whichforms a part of the firing assembly, aforesaid.

Electrical connection 18 extends between the solenoid valve 14 andelectric switch 15 and the solenoid valve 14 is designed to operate in amanner more fully set forth hereinafter.

The installation disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 2 is designed to operate inthe following manner.

With the conduit 13 connected to a suitable source of supply of waterand/or steam and with the sprinkler heads 12 mounted on conduit 13 andfacing downwardly in the Smokestack, upon actuation of switch 15 whichin turn will activate the firing assembly 16, the solenoid valve 14 willbe caused to open and to thereby admit into conduit 13 a supply of steamand/or water and this steam and/or Water will be caused to exit throughthe sprinkler heads 12 counterflow to the direction of the uprising fluegases. As can be appreciated, immediately upon the initial firing of thefiring assembly, the sprinkler heads will be set in operation to delivera supply of steam and/ or water downwardly against the uprising gases.This is an improvement over the prior art inasmuch as upon the initialfiring of the firing assembly within the furnace, the steam and/ orwater is caused to be directed downwardly thereby insuring that anyuprising gases containing soot or other unburned petroleum products willcontact the downwardly directed steam and/or water and to thereby becleansed before issuing outwardly of the Smokestack, thus eliminatingthe undesirable black smoke which is normally discharged from asmokestack particularly when the furnace employs a low grade fuel forfiring the furnace and boiler assembly.

As can be appreciated, most establishments employing large furnaces forheating and/or producing steam, employ a low grade fuel since the samecan be burned fairly economically. However, such low grade fuel does notcombust in its entirety with the resultant fact that the smoke issuingfrom a smokestack is black due to the soot contained therein whichpollutes the air surrounding the establishment. Also, such soot settleson adjacent buildings and is a source of annoyance since the same mustbe removed from time to time in order to renoveto the outward appearanceof such buildings.

With the employment of the present invention, immediately upon theactuation of the firing assembly a spray is caused to be directeddownwardly against any uprising gases since the solenoid valve is incircuit with the electric switch which controls the firing assembly.This insures the opening of the solenoid valve at the same instant asthe electric switch 15 is actuated and permits for instant downward flowof the steam and/or water for the purposes aforesaid.

While the above invention has been described in connection with the useof steam and/ or water for effecting a cleaning of the gaseouscomponents rising within a flue or the like, it is within the purview ofthis invention to employ a chemical which will be caused to mist withthe uprising gases in the manner described in conjunction with the steamand/ or water. The chemical employed will be one which will neutralizethe sulphurous components usually present in the uprising gases.

I claim:

1. In combination with a combustion apparatus, a flue for the passage ofgases of combustion outwardly from said combustion apparatus, sprayheads mounted and facing downwardly from said flue for spraying a fluidmedium against their counterflow, the uprising combustion gases, aconduit for delivering said fluid medium to said spray heads, a valve insaid conduit for opening or closing said conduit for admitting orcutting off the flow of said fluid medium to said spray heads,electrical means for starting and stopping a fuel firing assembly insaid combustion apparatus, said electrical means also actuatingsimultaneously said valve to thereby admit or cut off the supply of saidfluid medium to said spray heads.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said fluid medium comprises water.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein said fluid medium comprises steam.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein said fluid medium comprises achemical mixture.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS KENNETH W. SPRAGUE, PrimaryExaminer

